Soul Fusion
by Zenthian
Summary: A powerful force threatens a Bakugan homeworld and their leader, a mighty and powerful Bakugan called Towarsole, picks six humans to defend his home and the heart of the universe from annihilation. For Runo, Alice and Julie, they have no idea why a mysterious brawler has challenged them specifically, but they aren't about to back down from a fight.
1. Chapter 1

For Hope's Sake

The Bakugan looked down at the images he saw in the well. The ones he had chosen. These Brawlers, as they called themselves. The Six Soldiers had taken special interest in a few of them. Code Eve, his own sister, had taken interest in them. Some were inexperienced, innocent, happy, and naïve to the past, others cared more scars and pain than any one should bear. They may be not most first choice, but the Bakugan was not most. He knew they would prevail. The first three were already champions, the fourth a minor hero and the other two were inexperienced, but held an important key to his victory.

Then the water churned, switching to a different image. The scene was a crater of black stone. The crater spanned several miles wide and so deep the edges appeared to be mountains. In the middle of the crater, two Bakugan, one Darkus and the other Haos, in deep battle with a swarm of enemies that looked ready to overwhelm them. Their enemies poured over the peaks in mass. The two Bakugan fought hard and bravely, but the power of their enemy was starting to wear them down.

In the distance, a dark red cloud swirled at the edge of the cliff. In the center of the cloud, a red glowing shrouded figure watched the two Bakugan intently. From the cloud, his most powerful monsters charged the warriors. The swarm parted for the four monsters.

The first two slammed into the Darkus Bakugan, sending him flying. The impact sent out a shockwave of Darkus energy. The Haos Bakugan flipped over the other two with ninja ease, but one of the monsters shot a ball of red energy, knocking her down.

The Darkus Bakugan rose to his feet and fired a devastating purple laser. Most of the lesser enemies were destroyed but the monsters were only slightly hurt by it. Their chests glowed with building energy. The Darkus Bakugan threw up a shield and braced himself.

The Haos Bakugan recovered and leapt in action with amazing grace. Twin light energy daggers grew in her hands. With a lethal ease, the Haos Bakugan slashed and cut down the four monsters before they could fire. The Darkus Bakugan fired four arrows of black explosive light. The monsters disappeared in thick clouds of smoke.

The shrouded figure on the hill let loose more monsters, more powerful, more destructive. The Two Bakugan wouldn't be able to take them and the army that already surrounded them, but they braced themselves any way.

The Bakugan watching the battle couldn't lose his two best fighters and heroes. He stretched his hand over the water. "Gundal, Neath, return." He commanded.

The Bakugan glowed with their respective attribute lights and returned to ball form, flying into the air through and unseen portal. The figure in the clouded chuckled, a sound that would make men cringe and continued moving, focusing his army on his prize.

The two Bakugan, Gundal and Neath, flew into the Bakugan's hand. The Bakugan threw the ball forms on the ground and they returned to their Bakugan forms. Darkus Battalion Gundal was covered head to toe in black armor dotted with purple power lines. For a left arm, a large cannon took its place. His face was covered with a dark, obsidian glass visor. His very aura gave off a wave of intimidation. Gundal was not an opponent you should take lightly. He rarely spoke, and what he did say rarely went unheeded.

Haos Sensei Neath was his polar opposite. Her lithe frame gave her an edge of speed and grace. She wore light white pants, cloak and boots. Her head was covered with a white hood. Her elven facial features gave off a royal beauty. Her eyes were almond shaped, the irises like miniature suns. The cloak itself was covered in the old language of the Bakugan, spells and enchantments to ward off evil.

Neath glared out the Bakugan who removed her from the battle. "We had it, Towarsole. We could have taken them."

Towarsole shook his massive head. "No. They would have killed you both. These are not the chaotic beasts of Mag Mel when you placed him in his prison. These creatures are older, more powerful. No, Neath, even with your two evolutions, you still couldn't have beaten them."

Neath backed off, seeing the wisdom of her master. She could be hot headed at times, but she knew when she was wrong.

Gundal stepped forward. "Do you think this Fusion plan of yours will work?" his monotone voice betrayed no emotion, but Towarsole knew the Darkus hero was a bit skeptical.

"It is our only hope. For the fate of the universe, it has too." Towarsole glanced back at the well. The water showed the images of the humans he had handpicked out of thousands. Four of them were highly experienced battlers with the respective attributes and faced Naga and other threats together. The other two were new to Bakugan and Brawling but they had a pure heart and deep roots, roots to the soul of the universe.

Neath stepped forward and huffed. "Why the humans and especially these. Those three may have been the Soldiers favorite at one point, but they haven't battled anything like Naga in year. Why not use the others? They have fought more battles and faced impossible odds."

"Because those ones deserve their hard won rest. And their Bakugan have their roles to play in the universe already." Towarsole explained. He stared intently at the three Neath referred to "They have been lost, without purpose for some time now. They need this, and so do we."

Towarsole flicked his hand in the well. The images flickered away, replaced with crystal blue water. Towarsole glanced out the open window of his spire at the city below. Nestled in a mountain valley on a desolate planet on the fringes of where the universe met the chaos, the city bustled as Bakugan prepared for war. These were ancient Bakugan, Towarsole's children. None of them have been exposed to humans or brawling. And now they were on the verge of destruction. Towarsole could see the fear and determination in their eyes. They would fight to end, which what Towarsole never wanted. Which was why his Fusion plan had to work.

Towarsole looked back at Gundal and Neath. "You two are growing weaker with every battle. Stay here, train the others, regain your strength."

Neath looked shocked. "You can't pull us out!"

Gundal put his right hand on Neath's shoulder. "He is right, my dove. One more battle like that and we are finished."

Neath sighed and listened. Just then a Ventus Bakugan entered the room. Towarsole nodded in greeting. "Azraghul, are they ready?"

Azraghul grinned with pride. "One from each attribute, ready for fusion, just like you asked."

Towarsole stared back at the well, even though the images were gone. "Good. Prepare for the next phase. I will be along shortly."

The three Bakugan nodded and left. Towarsole stared down at the well. "It is our only hope."


	2. Chapter 2

_Wow, I never had this many favorites and follows on my first chapter before, so thanks guys!_

_**Crystal Memory**: I have no idea why you are confused. It wasn't like I explained anything._

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><p>The Stranger<p>

Runo Misaki was not having a good day. Alice's plane from Russia was late, which just continued her bad luck train. Earlier, a customer had spilled hot coffee on her, burning her arm. The customer apologized profusely, but Runo was still pain. Then she dropped her cell into the dishwashing sink, so now she had no phone on her.

And when Runo looked up and saw that Alice flight from Moscow had been delayed, she nearly lost it. Why couldn't Alice just her dimensional transporter card from she was Masquerade. But Runo knew Alice wanted nothing to do with her past as Masquerade, who hurt thousands of Bakugan in his quest for power. To be honest, the whole Alice Masquerade spilt personality thing confused Runo, so she tried not think about it.

Runo sat at in the terminal, just staring at the floor and twirling her blue hair. She thought about old times her friends, Tiagerra and Dan. Runo frowned. Her relationship with Daniel Kuso was complicated. They had been going out since after their defeat of Naga. But Daniel disappeared every time the world was in trouble, which was a lot. And he never told her every time! It drove her crazy to find out the reason she couldn't find Dan was that he went to another planet!

But for some reason, they had stuck together. And it seemed now that the Mechtogan were defeated, the Bakugan and other dimensions were at peace, so there would be no more mysterious disappearance. Runo was happy she got to see Dan more often, mostly in Bakugan Interspace though. She did visit him and Julie in Bayview once a month.

Runo still brawled, was even ranked Number Four, right behind Marucho. After defeating Naga's forces and all that happened on New Vestroria, Bakugan Interspace seemed like game of cards. A game of cards that usually got out of hand quickly and all the cards could explode, but still, it was a relaxing way to let off some steam. She didn't have Tiagerra to brawl with anymore, so she got by with the generic clones. Brawling without Tiagerra had always felt empty. Tiagerra was on New Vestroria, enjoying her peace. Runo understood. Even Bakugan got old and Tiagerra was no exception. Runo hoped to find another partner like her, but no such luck yet.

"Runo?" a small voice intruded on Runo's thought. Alice Gehobich was standing over her, holding the handle of her brown flowery suitcase. Alice had changed since Runo last saw her. Her light red hair was cut shoulder length. Alice wore tan jeans, converse shoes, a green tank top and a light yellow jacket. Her bright emerald eyes seemed to bore into Runo, bringing out her thoughts at the tip of her tongue. "What's wrong?"

Runo sighed and rose to her feet. "Oh it's nothing. Come on, let's go."

Alice kept staring, like she didn't believe Runo but she didn't press and followed Runo out of the airport. The pair made their way down to Runo's family restaurant and home and after that headed to the Bakugan Interspace transporter site. The two talked about life in Wardington, life in Moscow, and more importantly, Bakugan Interspace. A day rarely went by were Bakugan wasn't on Runo's mind. As a serious brawler, Bakugan may have been Runo's whole life.

The transporter site for Bakugan Interspace was a dome shaped orange building connected to Marucho's… tower. Marucho's family was so rich, Runo nearly fainted with envy every time she saw the mansion. Even the freaking toilet had a master bedroom sized room to call its own. The transporter building itself was attached to the west wing. Kids and young adults streamed in and out, talking about their recent battles and other brawlers. Runo felt about hundred eyes on her and Alice as they entered the building. She was one of the top ten brawlers and Alice was a pretty famous trainer. Runo tried to rush past them and into the terminals.

As Runo and Alice waited in line for the digital transporter, a kid bumped into her, nearly knocking her into Alice. Runo whipped around to face him.

"Hey! What's your problem, bozo?!" Runo yelled menacingly. Alice grabbed her shoulder, just to remind her to calm down.

The boy was about her age, sixteen, with a curly brown mop for hair, hazel eyes and a mischievous grin. He wore red Rise Against t-shirt and blue jeans. Nothing about the kid said threating, only klutz. The boy scratched the back of his head and grinned. "Sorry about that. Sometimes I trip over my own feet. I'm Sam"

Runo rolled her eyes. "Of course you did."

Alice shook her head lightly and the trio moved along in the line. "I'm Alice and this is Runo." She introduced.

Sam's eyes bulged "As in Runo Misaki, the Haos Brawler?" the guy looked like he was going to faint. Just great, a fan boy. "I guess it's my lucky day. This is only my second time to Bakugan Interspace."

Just then a girl surged forward. She was slightly older than them, same curly brown hair and hazel eyes, except she wore glasses. She wore light green tank top under a blue denim jacket. She grabbed Sam's arm. "And he is a total newb." She extended her hand. "I'm Stella. My brother here is a bit of a klutz in the arena too. I have been trying to teach him, but it's like trying to teach dog how to sit."

Runo and Alice laughed. Sam developed a sudden fascination in his shoes. Stella punched her brother lightly in the arm.

"It's ok, Sam. You'll get better with time." Alice confronted. "If you want, I can show you few things."

"Do you brawl?" Sam asked, his voice nearly cracking under the embarrassment.

Alice shook her head. "No, not since a while ago but I do train brawlers from time to time."

Stella raised her eyebrows. "How come you don't brawl?"

"Because she's a scaredy cat." Runo joked. Alice glared angrily at Runo and Runo shut down immediately. It wasn't that Alice was scared to brawl, but scared of herself. Runo knew Alice still had issues with the Masquerade split personality, and she was afraid of becoming him again. Hydraniod had helped her with that a little, but ever since he left for New Vestroria, Alice had stopped brawling all together. She still helped around some and Runo was grateful for that.

Thankfully before it could get any more awkward, they were next for digital transport. The four of them and two more behind them split off into the chamber. Each one stepped into a white tube lined with wires, LED lights and scanners. As soon as Runo stepped on the soft glowing Plexiglas floor, a clear blue plastic curved wall hissed slowly down, locking them in the tube. The wires and lights started to flash around her and transmitted high frequency codes around her. A laser scanner pulsed to life and a blue light net scanned Runo's entire body.

"**_Scanning for digital copy._**" A mechanical monotone voice said over the speaker above her. "**_Preparing digital transit_**."

A red light pulsed below and the Digital transit had begun. The tube began to turn Runo's body into lines of code. It felt like ants were crawling all over her body combined with nausea. Runo did her best not to throw up. Last time that happened, well it wasn't pretty and Runo would rather soon forget it.

It was over in three seconds, but the dizziness it gave Runo afterward took some ten minutes to go away. The room didn't change except for the line outside disappeared and was replaced with an open door that led to an inter-dimensional city. The glass door hissed open. "**_Welcome to Bakugan Interspace. Have a nice day and a good brawl._**"

Runo stumble out the tube and held in her lunch. "I hate that."

Alice didn't have the same trouble with the digital transit. She stepped out just fine. "You ok, Runo?"

Runo shook her head. "Yeah, yeah, just fine. Come on, Julie should be…"

Runo never got the chance to finish her sentence. "RUNO! ALICE! YOU'RE LATE!"

If there was one thing the Julie Makimoto hated more than losing was tardiness. If you were late by a second, she threw a fit. Runo pitied her boyfriend, Billie, who was the king of lateness.

Julie coming running up from the city center and meet up with the two other girls. This time she seemed more in a rush, like there was something important to show them. Julie grabbed the girls and led them to Bakugan City. Bakugan City was a circular small town lined with cafés, restaurants and gazebos that served as the main hang out area for all the brawlers. Above them hung multiple digital screens that showed current rankings, brawls and messages. The twelve brawling arenas lined the outside of Bakugan City like the numbers on a clock.

Julie immediately pulled Alice and Runo one of the many billboard screens that served as a posting site for other brawlers to leave messages on. Of course it was digitized and sorted through the many posts, showing only the messages brawlers closest to it. As soon as Runo got close to it, she saw a few dozen messages for her pop up on the screen. Many were from other brawlers, looking for a challenge, another was from Dan, saying he couldn't reach her cell phone so he wanted to meet at the Venti Café after his last brawl today, another showed her ranking and next schedule tournament brawl but one caught her eye immediately. It was bolder than the rest, and marked as important.

Then Runo noticed Julie had a similar message, as well did Alice, which was odd since Alice doesn't brawl. Runo read the message out loud.

_"Dear Ms. Runo,_

_I have heard of your many endeavors with the Bakugan Haos Blade Tiagerra, including becoming a Soldier of Haos. I would like to challenge you to brawl, just to test your abilities. Hopefully you can overcome my challenges, but we shall see. Meet me at Arena 4 when you are ready._

_Signed,_

_The Issermian Crafter."_

"What you got one too? Both of you?" Julie replied, shocked. "I wanted show you this creepy challenge left by this guy, but apparently he challenged you guys too."

Runo looked over at Julie's and Alice's messages. They said the same thing, naming their Bakugans, Gorem and Hydraniod, as well as calling them Soldiers of Sub Terra and Darkus. A chill went down Runo's spine, like a killer creepy snowman was breathing down her neck.

"The Issermian Crafter." Alice tried to connect something with the name. "I never heard of him before. I wonder who he is."

Runo typed in the name to her Bakupod. A holographic image popped up on the screen as well as his stats. It was only a facial profile, and wasn't much of one. The face was covered and darkened by a gray hood. The Stats showed that he only joined Bakugan Interspace two days ago, and hadn't chosen a specific attribute yet. What really surprised Runo was that out of thousands of brawlers, he was rank sixty three and climbing fast. His battle reports showed thirteen wins and no losses. Just looking at the stats, Runo felt unnerved, like this guy was mentally influencing her to crawl in a hole and hide.

"He looks pretty good, but he doesn't show his face. And every time we meet someone in a mask, it's been only trouble for us." Runo concluded. Alice looked slightly shocked and Runo mentally kicked herself for bring that up.

"Says he was about brawl in Arena Nine." Alice said, looking at the schedule. "He's facing Chan."

Runo frowned. She knew Chan Lee from back in the days she was the number third top brawler in the world and also servant of Naga. These days she was less evil, but no tougher an opponent. "Come on." She said. "Let's see how good this Crafter is."

Arena Nine was packed as brawlers moved back in forth from the concession stands to their friends. But Runo spotted Dan, Shun and Jake in the front pretty easily. Dan immediately noticed when Runo and the others were heading towards him.

"Runo!" he called out. He got up hugged his girlfriend. The other exchanged greetings, while Alice and Shun awkwardly avoided each other.

Runo sat down next to her boyfriend. "Hey, sorry about not answering your texts. I dropped my phone in the sink."

Dan laughed. "That's OK, my Brawl is only a few more after this one, so we could head to the Venti early."

Runo smiled. "Sure, but I want to see this guy brawl first."

Shun nodded. "He's good and undefeated. Apparently everyone wants to brawl him these days but he brawls with people he personally challenges."

"Yeah, I'm losing my street cred to this guy." Dan joked.

Drago jumped up on Dan's shoulder from his pocket and opened up. "Don't worry. Dan. I'm pretty sure our street cred is fine."

Dan laughed "Thanks, buddy."

"Hey, did this guy challenge Shun and you too, Dan?" Julie asked.

Dan glanced back at her, confused. "No, why? Did he challenge yall?"

Runo nodded. "Me, Julie and Alice. Even talked about how the Six Soldiers had chosen us to defeat Naga."

Shun shook his head. "That's weird. I wonder…" Shun trailed off, in deep thought.

Just then Marucho appeared out of nowhere, burdened with food. "Hey girls, what's up?" he said, trying not to topple the mountain of snacks in his arm. Jake rose up and relieved him of half his pile.

"Thanks Jake." Marucho said before taking a seat on the other side of Runo. "Hey, the brawl is about to start."

Just as Marucho said it, two circular platforms exited from the stands and floated towards opposite sides of the Arena. On one stood a young Asian girl with jet black with a single red highlight covering her left eye, wearing a simple red long-sleeved shirt and pants. On the other, someone wearing a plain grey hood with dark grey jeans waited patiently for the brawl to begin. So that was the Issermian Crafter. He didn't look like much but for some reason, Runo still felt Goosebumps just looking at him.

"ARE YOU READY BRAWLLLEEERRRRRSSS?!" A loud male announcer voice echoed across the stands, sending off a wave of cheers. "BECAUSE GET READY FOR THE MATCH UP OF THE CENTURY! IN ONE CORNER, WE HAVE THE FAMOUS PYRUS BRAWLER, CHAAANN LLEEEEE!" Chan waved for the cheering crowd. "AND IN THE OTHER, WE HAVE THE MYSTERIOUS NEWCOMER, YET UNDEFEATED, THE ISSSERMIAN CRAFTTEERRR!" A respectful cheer rose into the air. "GET READY, BRAWLERS AND GOOD LUCK! BAKUGAN! BRAWL!"

Chan went first and threw down her gate card. "Gate Card Set!" she yelled. Jumping back into the air with martial artist ease, Chan threw down her Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Quillus, Stand!"

A circle of fire erupted in the middle of the Arena, and a Pyrus Bakugan growled menacingly as it rose from the flames. Quillus was nothing but a moving four legged ball of sharp pointed bronze spikes the size of telephone poles. You could barely see his growling hedgehog like face under all the deadly spines. Quillus's tail was long and just as spiky as his body.

The Crafter was apparently not impressed. With quick, over hand throw, his Bakugan sailed into the arena. "Bakugan Brawl! Rise Pyrus Arsonneer!"

As Quillus had entered the Arena in a ball of flames, Arsonneer exploded in to the arena. As soon as he had opened, a ginormous fireball rocked the Arena, sending off a heat wave. Arsonneer flew out of the explosion like he was Superman, one fist in front, the other curled at his chest. He quickly flipped in the air and landed on his feet. Arsonneer resembled the evil version of a firefighter. He wore a heavy bright red trench coat over gleaming red armor. His face was covered by a black firefighter's helmet and a rat face like gas mask. Dark smoke bellowed out the breathing end of the gas mask. The Pyrus insignia blazed on his jacket chest pocket, sleeves and helmet. On his back, he wore two tanks that connected to metal hose in his right hand that suspiciously looked like a flame thrower. Arsonneer must of have been made of fire because behind the visor you could only a raging inferno.

On the overhead battle screen, Arsonneer's and Quillus's Gs flashed under their ball form avatars. Arsonneer had 500 Gs and Quillus was under by a hundred Gs.

"Hey!" Marucho shouted, checking an alert on a hovering holographic screen. "That Bakugan doesn't exist in our network!"

Runo's gut fell through the floor. This was getting more and more mysterious by the moment, and Runo hated it. Last time anyone showed up with new and mysterious Bakugan, it was the beginning of the whole Mag Mel thing.

If Chan was fazed by it, she didn't show it. An ability card flipped into her hand. "Impressive, but not good enough. Ability Card! Vesuvius Destroyer!"

On the screen, Quillus's Gs went up by 200. In the arena, Quillus's eyes glowed bright violent red and arched his back. A volley of fiery long spikes rocketed out of Quillus's back. The fiery spines erupted around Arsonneer, blanketing him in a raging inferno.

The Crafter calmly showed an ability card. "Ability Card Activate! Gamera Booster."

The sea of flames around Arsonneer swirled into his flamethrower like a vacuum. Quillus's Gs reset to four hundred Gs while Arsonneer's went up by two hundred. A soft glowing orange light pulsed at the end of the flamethrower. Arsonneer aimed his flamethrower at Quillus and fired a stream of hot flames. Quillus braced himself as the flames scorched him.

Chan smiled "That won't work. Ability Activate! Spiral Runner!" Quillus's Gs matched Arsonneer's and Quillus rolled into a ball. Quillus rolled so fast, that his spines blended into a bronze blur and Quillus flew after Arsonneer. Arsonneer jumped into the air, like he was scared, and ran around the arena, trying to avoid the spinning ball of death. Runo couldn't help but laugh at the scene. Others in the arena laughed as well.

The Crafter laughed, a sound more grandfatherly than evil, which was what Runo was expecting. "Amusing."

Chan flipped out a second ability card. "If you think that was funny, then you well get a kick out of this. Ability Card Activate! Orbital Meteor!"

Quillus's Gs went up by another two hundred, putting him at nine hundred. Quillus himself launched fifty feet into the air and stalled mid-air before coming down at Meteor speeds. Flames streaked around Quillus like he was coming out of orbit.

The Crafter laughed again. "Very good. You could have beaten me with that move if I was any younger." The Crafter held up two cards. "Double Ability Activate! Fahrenheit Gear and Volcanic Avatar!"

Arsonneer suddenly glowed bright red and spread his arms, like he was waiting for Quillus's impact. When Quillus struck down, it was like watching a nuclear explosion. Both Quillus and Arsonneer disappeared in a sea of flames. Runo had to shield her eyes from the blast light.

The audience and the two brawlers waited in anticipation as the flames stared to die down. On Chan's end, the copper quills poked out over the flames. Chan sighed in relief. In the middle of the inferno, a glowing ruby colored energy from pulsed; inside you can see the black outline of Arsonneer. Arsonneer was still in the game.

Runo checked to screen. Arsonneer was up to eleven hundred G's and Quillus had lost three hundred Gs. How was that even possible?

Then the energy form in the middle rose into a red giant of fire, Arsonneer in the center of its chest, like he was the heart of this monster.

This time Chan looked shocked. "What the? How?" Runo was surprised too. She had never seen an ability cards like that in all of her years of brawling. The others looked stunned as well, too stunned to talk. Marucho furiously searched his database for any of the abilities the Issermian Crafter had used. Runo guessed he was coming up empty.

The Crafter himself shrugged. "Fahrenheit Gear nullifies any current activate ability and Volcanic Avatar, well, boosts Arsonneer by five hundred Gs." He explained. He then whipped out put a new ability card. "And this is the end. Ability Activate! Solace Storm Head!"

Arsonneer's giant avatar form's chest started to glow bright yellow. Soon it was brighter than the sun itself. Arsonneer covered his chest with his arms as the energy built up. Three hundred G's added to Arsonneer's already high power, combining it at fourteen hundred.

Chan shot her hand out, a desperate look in her eyes. "Gate Card, open! Pyrus Reactor!"

Flames shot out the ground like geysers, boosting up Quillus's power to eleven hundred, but some reason it boosted Arsonneer's power too. The Crafter laughed again, which was starting to get creepy. "Foolish move. Solace Storm Head feeds off of any Pyrus boost you can give your Bakugan. There is nothing you can do. FIRE, ARSONNEER!"

Arsonneer spread his arms and a beam brighter than any flood blasted Quillus. Runo shielded her eyes from the blast. Everyone else was blinded as well except for the Crafter. The beam lasted only a few seconds but the effect was devastating. Quillus was frozen for a second, the ends of spines scorched black. Then both Bakugan glowed red and flew back to their owners. The Crafter caught Arsonneer in his hand while Quillus clanked against the floor next to Chan.

Above screen, Chan's life went to zero immediately.

Everyone was too shocked to move, or even speak. Every just gazed at the Arena, mouths hung wide open. The Crafter shrugged. Then he looked straight at Runo.

As soon as he turned Runo's way, a strange feeling washed over her. Her body temperature dropped several degrees, Goosebumps popping on her arm. Her stomach sank to the floor. _Who are you_, Runo asked mentally. Then a voice popped into her head, like a whisper. _The question is; who are you really?_ Fear twisted in Runo's gut. He… he just… he spoke to her mentally! Runo was too stunned to move.

Then the Crafter disappeared, like he was never there to begin with.

Dan was the first to speak up. "He… He wiped all of Chan's life force in one turn! There wasn't even a chance for a second battle!"

"Oh man, that was totally brutal." Jake replied, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Marucho was busy scanning his archives. "His Bakugan, Abilities, they're not part of our system. They haven't even been seen before today!"

Shun shook his head, a fierce glare in his eyes. "And he used a teleportation inside of Bakugan Interspace. Only we have access to that. Whoever this Crafter is, we have to find him fast, before this gets out of hand."

Why did Runo get the feeling that she wouldn't like it when they did?

Next Chapter: **_Welcome to the Masquerade Brawl_**


	3. Chapter 3

_To _**AliceGl**_= you just can't be hurt be people cutting their hair. you sound like Sheldon but here is a strictly Alice chapter, so enjoy._

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><p>Welcome to the Masquerade Brawl<p>

After the brawl, Bakugan Interspace exploded. Well, not literally. But the chaos circling the brawl was nearly to the point of rioting. Everyone was worried that this could be the beginning of a new attack on earth or the Bakugan. As soon as the brawl was over, Marucho, Dan, Runo, Jake, Drago, Julie and Shun went straight to the head server system to figure out where the Issermian Crafter had gone to and how he got into Bakugan Interspace in the first place. They were going crazy trying to figure out what happened in the battle arena and where he was.

But Alice knew. She couldn't explain it, but she knew. What she couldn't get out of her head was the voice. Alice kept hearing over and over again, like it was pin-balling around her brain. _I await you, Masquerade._

She couldn't stop thinking about. If there was anything Alice was afraid of more, it was being recognized as Masquerade. She had felt the stares, heard the whispers. No matter how hard she tried, how many people she helped, everyone still thought of her as Masquerade, the monster who banished hundreds of Bakugan to the Doom Dimension, who helped Naga rise. And Alice hated it.

Her grandfather was luckier than her. His age was letting him forget that he was even Hal G but unfortunately that meant he was forgetting himself too. It scared Alice to see her once brilliant grandfather starting to forget where he put his keys, what happened that day. Fortunately, Dr. Gehobich had realized it too and was starting to shut down his inventions, turning most of them over to Marucho and his family's company.

Alice wasn't focused on that right now. She focused on the Issermian Crafter. She wanted to confront him, and she wanted to do it alone. What she wanted to discuss with him, about Masquerade, she didn't want her friends around for that. And she knew where he was. Arena Four.

Alice made sure she wasn't noticed as she made her to the Arena. No one was focused on her. They were all too busy talking about the Issermian Crafter to be bothered with her.

Arena Four was empty, no current brawls for another few days. Inside, leaning against the railing with his arms crossed, the Issermian Crafter was waiting.

Up close, the Crafter was very different. His simple grey jacket wasn't so simple. His shoulders were plated in gold armor. A silver labyrinth like design was etched on the jacket. His dark grey jeans were made from interlocking dragon like scales. His face was covered by a loose hood and black faceless mask.

The Crafter looked up when he saw Alice entered the arena. "Well, well, well. Hello Masquerade." He said smugly.

Alice narrowed her eyes. "I'm not Masquerade."

The Crafter cocked his head. "Are you sure?"

This was getting nowhere. "Who are you? What do you want?"

He laughed. "I have many wants, but for the moment all I want is a brawl, Masquerade."

Anger filled Alice's chest. "I don't brawl. And I am not Masquerade! Now answer my questions!"

The Crafter held up a Darkus Bakugan and set of cards. "You will only get answers, if you defeat me._ IF_. But you will have to answer my questions, if you want to know the truth."

Alice took the Bakugan, a knot forming in her stomach. Her fear returned. She never understood why she was so afraid, but Alice got over it and prepared herself, checking over her cards, which her standard Darkus set. The Bakugan looked familiar, but Alice didn't recognize it. She had to brawl if she wanted answers.

The Crafter teleported to the other side of the Arena. "Are you ready, Masquerade?!"

Alice tried to calm herself down. Alice chose a gate card. "I am not Masquerade! Gate Card Set!"

The Crafter laughed. "Then prove it to me, Bakugan Brawl! Darkus Typhoniod Rise!"

Instead of a blast of purple light, a dark glowing storm cloud seeped out the ground. Purple lightning flashed inside of the storm head. The storm cloud grew into the form of a smoky giant. The cloud shrouded the giant, the lightning revealing only a dark form inside. A deep slow groan echoed from Typhoniod, making Alice feel very small. Typhoniod's Gs stood at five hundred.

Alice threw her Bakugan next. "Bakugan Brawl!"

Her Bakugan opened and a blast of indigo light erupted from the arena floor and the Bakugan rose. It was nearly as tall as Typhoniod. Large bat like wings arched from his back, a black and purple scythe in one hand. His red eyes glowed from under a knight like helmet with two red horns pointing up. His power level was at five hundred fifty Gs. Alice gasped when she saw her Bakugan. "Reaper!"

It was Darkus Reaper, her former Bakugan partner, the one Masquerade had betrayed and sent to the Doom Dimension. He looked different. His body was skinnier, more skeleton like, a scar ran down his right eye. Reaper's scythe was chipped and cracked. His wings were shredded. Reaper looked Alice in the eye, his gleaming with a crazed glare. "Hello, Master. It has been a long time."

"What, how? What happened to you?" Alice stammered. She glared at the Crafter. "What is this?"

The Crafter laughed. "Don't you recognize your old friend? Granted he went through hell, but this is what you did to him, Masquerade!" he flipped an ability card in his hand. "Gorgon Striker!"

Typhoniod growled and raised his arms, lightning crackling under the clouds. Typhoniod gained a hundred Gs and fired, black lightning arcing towards Reaper.

"Um, Master, do something please!" Reaper braced himself for the blast.

Alice raised an ability card. "I'm not Masquerade! Ability Activate, Grim Shudder!"

"Finally!" Reaper raised his scythe and absorbed the blast. The blade crackled with dark electricity. Reaper laughed as the power went through his body. On screen, Reaper's power level matched Typhoniod's.

Reaper launched himself at Typhoniod, scythe raised over his shoulder. The two Bakugan clashed, evenly matched. Reaper tried to get at Typhoniod's body but Typhoniod blocked with his arms.

The Crafter raised another card. "So, if you are not Masquerade, then who are you? Are you Alice? The girl who is too scared to even brawl? Or are you afraid that what Masquerade did under Naga will return in you?! Ability Card Activate! Tartarian Swell!"

Gs leeched off Reaper to Typhoniod, making a difference by two hundred Gs. A blast of storm clouds sent Reaper flying back. Under their feet, purple and black energy swirled around Typhoniod like a maelstrom.

The question bounced in Alice's brain. It was one she had been struggling with ever since she found out she was Masquerade. Hydraniod had answered that for her. Alice flipped out another card. "My name is Alice! Alice Gehobich! What Masquerade did, that wasn't me! I am not Masquerade! Ability Activate! Wicked Overture!"

"hehehehe." Reaper laughed and raised his scythe. A deep dark piano sound echoed from the blade. The swirling around them stopped and Typhoniod's power level returned to base while Reaper's went up by two hundred. Black energy fired from its tip and Typhoniod went down with a bellowing groan.

Before the Crafter could do anything, Alice reached out her hand "And Masquerade helped defeat Naga in the end, but he is gone now. Now, answer my question, what do you want?! Gate Card Open! Inquisitor Judgment!"

Black and purple flames erupted around Reaper; Reaper himself glowed with power as another three hundred Gs was added. Reaper loomed over the fallen Typhoniod.

"Say good bye." Reaper raised his scythe and brought it down. Typhoniod glowed bright purple and rolled on the ground next to the Issermian Crafter. Reaper returned to ball form and flew into Alice's open hand. On the screen, the Crafter's life meter shrank into the light greens at sixty percent.

The Crafter lifted up a Gate Card. "Very good, Alice." He said, saying Alice like it was a joke. "But that's not true, is it? You and Masquerade are the same person. Can't you feel him there, trying to tell you something?"

The Crafter hit home. Alice could feel Masquerade there, at the fringes of her conscious. She expected to feel malice, hate, and a greed for power, but it felt more like he was sorry, wanting to make up for what he had down.

Alice glanced at Reaper. Reaper opened up. "What is it, Master?" he seethed.

Alice tried to find the words to say to him but the Crafter interrupted. "Yes, What is it, Alice? What is truly eating at you? The true reason you are afraid to brawl." The Crafter threw down his gate card. "Gate Card Set! Bakugan Brawl! Rise Darkus Anties Encledeao!"

A dark, blood red fiery circle burned around the Bakugan. Encledeao rose to his feet. He was even taller than Gorem. His entire skin was made from dragon scales. His eyes burned with dark red flame and his lower square jaw set over his upper jaw. He wore a dark iron chest piece and greaves. He didn't look right for a Darkus Bakugan, more like fusion of Pyrus and Darkus, but not quite like Drumen and Centuras. His G level was at six hundred.

The Crafter laughed. "Meet Anties Encledeao. He was specifically born to oppose Darkus Bakugan and he will have no trouble beating you."

Fear swelled up in Alice. Encledeao's fiery stare seemed to bore right through her, bring her darkest secrets to light. Reaper turned to Alice. "He doesn't look that tough. Let's cut him down to size, Master."

Alice laughed at Reaper's statement and regained her composure. "Let's do this, Reaper. Bakugan Brawl! Reaper, Stand!"

Reaper leapt into the battle, swinging his scythe expertly. "You may be big, but you still going down."

Encledeao's stare only intensified.

The Crafter laughed. "Your bravery is admirable, Reaper, but it will do nothing for you as long as Alice herself is still afraid." He lifted up an Ability card. "Ability Activate! Orb Seer!"

Encledeao clapped his hand together and a ball of dark red energy built up in his hands. On the battle screen, Encledeao gained two hundred Gs. Encledeao raised back his hand and launched the sphere. Reaper flew back through the arena when the blast hit him and crashed into the floor with a thunderous boom.

"Owww." Reaper moaned. Slowly he rose back to his feet. "Hey, Master, whatever you got bottled up, you better get over it and quick, cause this guy means business."

Alice nodded, but something still tugged in her stomach, a feeling she couldn't quite shake. In her ear Masquerade kept whispering, something inaudible. Alice shook her head and raised up her ability card. "Ability Activate! Chaos Faction!"

Reaper's eyes shone a brilliant red and gripped his scythe. The blade started to vibrate into a soft blur. His Gs went up by two hundred while Encledeao's went down by twice that. Reaper leaped skyward, twice as high as the giant Encledeao. Midair, Reaper raised his blurry scythe over his head and brought it straight down.

The Crafter shook his head. "You're not learning Alice! You still have some fear in you! There are words left unspoken, keys to victory! Ability Activate! Wizard Mirror!"

The scythe stopped vibrating and it passed through Encledeao like he was made of air. Reaper looked up at the giant. Encledeao stared down the little Bakugan with his cold fiery stare and back handed him to his side of the Arena. Reaper skidded to halt, implanting his scythe in the ground like an anchor. His G level reset to five fifty.

"Well, Alice?" The Crafter said. "I guess I was wrong. Maybe you are too paralyzed by fear to win, let alone brawl."

Anger continued to build up in Alice as the Crafter threw out his taunts. She wasn't weak. She was Alice, not the Masquerade, and she could win. Alice flipped two more ability cards. "I am not afraid of you! Duel Abilities Activate! Dark Angel plus Shadow of Pain!"

"My turn." Reaper smirked. A dark shadow wrapped around Reaper's body like ghostly armor. From his back, six misty tendrils snaked forward. His G level rose, first with Dark Angel which doubled his G level and Shadow of Pain, which brought Encledeao's Gs by two hundred and added them to Reaper. Reaper twirled his scythe around his body and struck the ground with the butt. The tendrils shot forth, crackling with dark energy.

The Crafter flicked his wrist. "Gate Card Open! Fog of War!"

The Arena filled with a grey cold morning fog. Alice could only see Reaper in the fog. Encledeao, as big as he was, had disappeared. The tendrils dissolved into shadows and the black aura surrounding Reaper vanished. All of Alice's Abilities had been nullified.

"Ability Activate!" Alice heard the Crafter's voice cry out in the fog. "Candlefire!"

In the midst of the fog, two dark red eyes gleamed with malice. Below them, a bright orange light flickered and grew in intensity. There was a moment of anticipation, then a jet of dark red flames struck Reaper. Reaper shield himself with his arms and wings but it wasn't enough. Reaper's body glowed purple and returned to ball form, clattering on the ground. Alice's life meter painfully went down to twenty percent.

Alice picked Reaper up off the floor. Reaper floated above her hand and opened. "You ok, Reaper?" she asked with concern.

"Uggh. I am fine, but this guy packs a wallop." He replied groggily. He paused, sensing the dread deep inside of her. "Hey, Master, what is it?"

Masquerade's voice grew louder, but Alice still couldn't make out what he was saying. All she could make out was Reaper. The sinking feeling in her stomach got worse. Alice ignored it.

"It's nothing." Alice grabbed a Gate Card. "Let's just beat this guy. Gate Card Set! Bakugan Brawl! Reaper Stand!"

"Shame, Alice. You have confidence, but you lack conviction." The Crafter threw in his Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl! Darkus Anties Encledeao Rise!"

Alice's lip twisted, a rare anger rising out of her. "I'll show you conviction. Ability Card Activate! Phantom Enforcer!"

Reaper's power boosted by a hundred Gs. A ghost-like copy image of Reaper split from Reaper's body and charged at Encledeao. The phantom Reaper dissolved into dark purple electricity and Encledeao jumped in shock.

"Not good enough. There's still something you need to say!" the Crafter lifted up an Ability card. "Fusion Ability Activate! Darkest Fire!"

Encledeao's jaw unhinged and a ball of fire blasted Reaper. Reaper groaned in pain as he stumbled back. Reaper's Gs dropped by two hundred. "Hey, Master. Let's see how tough this guy really is."

Alice nodded and pulled out two cards. "Double Ability Activate! Darkus Instinct plus Vertigo Walker!"

"Hehehehehe." Reaper chuckled. Dark storm clouds gathered over head. Lightning struck Reaper with a boom twice as loud as thunder. Black lightning crackled and arced across Reaper's body. Alice struggled to keep her vision straight as a vertigo sensation crawled through her body. Waves of nausea washed over Encledeao and the Crafter, hopefully making it hard to think. Encledeao grabbed his head and stumbled back, effected by the nausea. Reaper gained six hundred Gs, putting him at 1150. Encledeao lost three hundred G's.

The Crafter laughed. "Interesting. You have heart, but still no conviction. Tell me, what are the voices in your head saying? Or better yet, tell Reaper, he'll need it. Ability Activate! Abyssal Lock!"

Encledeao snarled, and regained his composure, his eyes burned fiercely. The nausea waves stopped pulsing around the arena. Encledeao lifted his hands and black iron link chains shot out the ground, wrapping around Reaper, pulling him to the ground. His scythe clattered on the arena floor. "Master?!"

On the battle screen, Reaper was losing Gs, fast as the chains brought him closer to the ground. In the center of the arena floor, a crack opened, an eerie ghostly green light flickered from the unknown bottom. Encledeao was gaining ever G Reaper was losing, draining him of his power.

"Master? Help!" Reaper cried out.

"Gate Card Open!" Alice yelled out. But instead of opening, the Gate Card shattered into luminescent shards.

"Your gate is useless, Alice. Any final words you would like to say to Reaper before he disappears, again?" the Crafted taunted. There was something in his taunts, something that racked Alice's brain. Something that she needed to say. Something that Reaper needed to hear. Masquerade's whispers turned into a scream. Alice tried to focus on it, figure out what he was saying. But it wasn't a voice; it was a memory.

_"But Master!" Reaper cried. It was an original Bakugan battle. Hydraniod in his original state, only one head, roared on the other side of him. Facing them was Drago. On the opposite side the ancient battle arena, stood a much younger Dan, from the days when they first learned about Masquerade and the truth behind the Bakugan._

_Masquerade smiled. "Good Bye, Reaper." He said coldly, without any remorse._

_A dark portal opened up above Reaper. "Master!" Reaper cried out as he was sucked into the oblivion._

That was all Alice needed to remember. What Masquerade was saying, it wasn't to ask for forgiveness, Masquerade had already made his peace. It was to avenge him, to not let his actions, what he did for Naga, go unpunished. That's what Alice needed to say. Vengeance burned through Alice like a wildfire, blazing through her fear, replacing it with a new conviction. It wasn't just vengeance, her heart burned with a passion even she couldn't describe.

Reaper was nearly to the floor, his G level in the hundreds. Alice raised two ability cards. "Reaper! Reaper, I am sorry! Sorry for what happened to you, sorry you were banished to the Doom Dimension! But that doesn't matter anymore, because I am not afraid anymore, I'm angry. Angry for what Naga had me do, what I did to you and I am done running! It's time to fight, Reaper! Time to avenge what happened to us!"

Then the scene changed entirely. The temperature dropped, the air turned electric. Goosebumps lined Alice's whole body, her hair stood up on end. A tingling sensation swept through Alice. The chains stopped. Reaper hovered just above the abyss. A dead grey fog seeped out of the canyon and wrapped Reaper like a cocoon. Reaper laughed his same sadistic laugh as the fog swirled around him. The chains let go and disappeared into the abyss. The canyon sealed up like a zipper with an earthen moan. Encledeao stepped back, an uncertainty in his fiery eyes.

In her hand, the two ability cards glowed with a luminescent light, changing into new, more powerful abilities.

The fog dispersed, and a new evolved Reaper casted a ghoulish shadow over the battle field. His helmet and face disappeared under a purple hood and cloak. The face was replaced with a shadow, an empty dark abyss. The monk robe-like cloak extended down to floor, open at the chest, revealing a black ribcage over swirling purple clouds of what looked like souls. His scythe had changed, it's once horn-like edge replaced with a long heavy cold black blade. Images of skulls and screaming faces etched on the flat of each side of the blade. In Reaper's other hand was a bone white skull attached to a black iron ring, like a lantern, a ghoulish green light shining from his eyes. It laughed with the high creepy voice you expect in Halloween yard ornaments, except it was ten times chilling. Reaper spread his bat like wings, which doubled in size and membrane was still torn, except on purpose. On the battle screen, Reaper's new G level was six hundred like Encledeao's.

"Master…" Reaper's voice was now more of a whisper, more shadow-like. "Let's finish this creep. I am Darkus Grave Reaper!"

Alice nodded. "Dual Ability Activate! Soulhunter plus Hades Lantern!"

On the battle screen, Reaper syphoned six hundred of Encledeao's Gs, his base power level, leaving him with five hundred fifty Gs. Three hundred Gs added to Reaper's new power, putting him at fifteen hundred Gs. Encledeao staggered back. The Crafter only spread his arms, like he was waiting for the blast.

"Batter's up." Reaper rasped. He tossed his chattering skull in the air like a baseball and reared back his scythe. Reaper swung, hitting the skull like a missile. The skull laughed harder as a green aura of souls wrapped around it. The skull impacted with the force of a meteor. Encledeao collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash. Encledeao glowed bright purple and returned to ball form along with Reaper.

Alice caught Reaper in her hand. Reaper opened up, a bit differently this time, triangle curved wings down his upper body.

"Thank you Master." He said. "For all you have done."

Alice smiled. "Thank you for showing the way. I believe I will have no more trouble with brawling now." She turned to the Crafter, who mysteriously appeared on her stand. She glared at him with all the anger she could muster. "Who are you?"

There was a strange flash, followed by a short, whip-like crack. From the alien landscape, Alice could tell she was no longer in Bakugan Interspace.

"My name is Towarsole."

Next Chapter: **_Two Against One Equals Fire and Wind_**


	4. Chapter 4

Two Against One Equals Fire and Wind

Sam Bridges wasn't getting what his sister was teaching; he just enjoyed brawling for the sake of it. He acted, quickly and hard, just like any good Pyrus brawler. It drove Stella crazy, being a strategic Ventus brawler. Sam understood strategy, but he was new at this. He only started brawling last week, after he discovered Ventus and Pyrus Bakugan on his doorstep.

Sam and Stella had no idea where they came from, and neither did the Bakugan themselves. Sam nearly pissed his pants when his Pyrus partner, Eries, started talking, with no memory or clue to their past, only that they were Bakugan and not from Vestroria. That part wigged out Stella more, who was already an experienced brawler who fought Centuras Gargoniod forces here at Bayview.

After Sam and Stella met Eries and Stella's Ventus partner, Jargon, Stella had taken Sam under her wing as a brawler. Sam loved it from the first brawl. Thankfully Eries loved brawling as well.

Today, Sam and Stella decided to practice in one of the many smaller training arenas that floated around the main city. It was just after the Issermian Crafter/Chan Lee brawl. The siblings didn't want to deal with the whole crowd and freakish mob that was preparing for war. Even the Top Bakugan Brawlers were trying to locate this Issermian Crafter. But that wasn't Sam's focus right now. His focus was on winning.

Sam threw down a Gate Card. "Gate Card Set!"

Sam grinned at Stella, hoping to off balance her. "Hey, Stella. You ready to finally lose."

Stella looked up from her book, rolling her eyes. She wasn't paying attention the whole brawl and she was still kicking Sam's butt, putting his life meter at thirty percent. Sam tossed Eries into the arena. "Bakugan Brawl! Eries Stand!"

The ground around Eries blackened like molten rock. A geyser of hellfire erupted from the ground, and Eries stepped out the flames. Eries was demon-like, with goat-like spiral horns that stuck out behind her. Her skin was a bright red, with flaming eyes and long vampire teeth. Bat-like wings folded against her body. Eries had long red scaly dragon legs and black talons. In her hand was a long flaming whip, crackling with vengeance and hellfire. Her power level started at five hundred Gs.

"Let's win this time, OK, Sam." Eries snapped.

"Don't worry. This time I got a plan!" Sam retorted.

"You said that last round." Eries replied.

"Whatever."

Stella calmly closed her back and threw in her Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl! Ventus Jargon Stand!"

"Have you seen the movie the where the demon gets its ass whooped by the plucky comedy relief, oh wait, we're in it!" Jargon joked terribly.

"Shut it, Jargon." Eries seethed.

Ventus Jargon looked like a cross between a court jester and an angel, the only Ventus thing about him was his body length green feathery wings. He had a squashed, snake like nose, dark green slit eyes, and a goofy grin. Jargon wore a four tentacle jester hat, minus the bells, on his head. Jargon spawned with five hundred Gs, same as Eries

Sam raised an ability card. "Ability Activate! Hellquake!"

Eries lashed out with her whip, striking the ground. Flames blasted around Jargon like geysers. Jargon danced around the arena, trying not step on the flames. On the battle screen, Eries syphoned two hundred Gs from Jargon

"Hothothothot!" Jargon panicked.

Stella sighed. "Really, Sam? Ability Activate! Bombard Trap!"

Jargon stopped moving and leaped into the air on his wings. He reached behind his back and pulled out a cylinder detonator out of thin air. "KA-BLOUEY!" Jargon yelled and pressed the big red button. A series of wind explosions rocked the arena and the flames blew out like candles. Eries and Jargon's power level reset to base, making them equal.

Stella pulled out another ability card. "Ability Activate! Clown Down!"

Jargon's head spun in circles like an owls, except really really fast. "Wee wee wee wee wee." Jargon stuttered like he was extremely dizzy. Jargon grabbed his head in place. His face had changed; his eyes were bigger, with actual dark green iris and pupils. He wore big dark green clown nose with a long painted grin.

As soon as Jargon's head stopped bobbling, a sadistic grin crossed his face. "It's funny time, Eries! Bwahahahaha!"

Eries gave Jargon an _I-am-going-to-brutally-murder-you _look and twirled her whip. A wave of pain hit her like a ton of bricks, making her doubled over in pain. Eries felt the energy of a hundred Gs vacate her body and suction over to Jargon. The Ventus clown laughed hysterically as his face spun back to normal.

"Oh, dizzy." He straightened himself out. "You ok there, Eries? You look hurt. Should I call an ambulance?"

Eries growled at Jargon. Sam stretched out his hand. "Gate Card Open! Spark Field!"

Thousands of sparks lit up the arena like a plague of fireflies. They shined and shimmered, dazzling Jargon. At the center of the field, lava pit bubbled quietly.

"Oh, so pretty." He murmured, dazed. He tried to grab on the sparks, but failed.

Jargon floated softly down to the ground, oblivious to the roaring fire trap in front of him, just waiting for him to get close. Sam raised up an ability to seal the deal. "Ability Activate! Judgment Grounder!"

Eries cracked a menacing grin and flicked out her whip. The flames wrapped around Jargon's torso, securing in place.

"Oh uh." Jargon gulped and Eries pulled him down to the ground.

Stella flipped out twin ability cards. "Double Ability Activate! Emerald Stare plus Vortex Sweeper."

"Nice try, Eries." Jargon giggled and broke free from the whip. Flapping in midair, Jargon stared down at the arena, a bright green floodlight beaming from his eyes. "I sees you!"

Eries backed up, blocking the light from her eyes with her arm. Sam squinted, finding it hard to even see. He could see his gate card being nullified along with his ability. On the battle screen, Eries went down to two hundred Gs, while Jargon went up by six hundred, putting them at an extremely disadvantage.

Jargon spread his wings to their full wingspan and arced them forwards. A powerful, hurricane force wind blasted the arena, sending everything into the air. Eries flew back and crashed hard into the side of the arena. The scene paused for a moment, and then both Bakugan glowed red and green and returned to their brawlers. Eries bounced several times on the ground next to Sam.

Sam picked Eries up and walked over to his sister. Jargon opened on Stella's shoulder. "Did you see that?" he bragged. "You have never seen a sexier Ventus Bakugan than me."

Eries huffed, and Sam rolled his eyes. Jargon thought he was whatever god the Bakugan have gift to female Bakugan. Stella found it very annoying.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Eries snipped. She turned to Sam. "Hey, what happened to our _plan_?"

"That was our plan." Sam replied.

Stella smiled. "It was good, but you just executed it wrong. You should have waited till I was already committed to an attack plan."

Sam frowned. "Yeah, ok. I just want brawl someone else, you know, instead of training with my little sister."

Stella grinned. "You need it." then her tone turned seriousness. "Besides, till this whole thing with this Crafter blows over, we shouldn't use Eries and Jargon to brawl with."

"What, why?" Sam asked dumbfounded.

Jargon turned towards Stella "Yeah, why?! I want brawl!"

"Well, everyone is talking about the Crafter, and we have two _talking _Bakugan that have never been seen before." Stella explained. "Maybe they won't notice, but till the Top Six figure out what's going on, we better be careful."

"You mean you don't want to be seen with me." Jargon quipped.

Stella gave him a pointed look. "No! Just till whatever going on with this Issermian Crafter is settled, we be just have to be careful."

"Huh." Eries huffed, obviously thinking about something. Sam caught on.

"What is it, Eries?" Sam asked.

"Nothing, but it's just, well…" Eries paused, gathering her thoughts. "It's just that Issermian sounds so familiar, like I have heard it over and again."

"Ok, now that you mention, I think I might remember hearing that before too." Jargon added. "Ok, now I am really freaked out. Is anyone else freaked out?

"Like, before? The part where you have amnesia?" Sam asked. The biggest thing that any of them talked about was Eries and Jargon's amnesia. Eries and Jargon spent hours trying to remember who they were, where they had come from.

"Hey, do you think he might know where you are from?" Stella asked.

"Maybe." Eries said. "I don't know."

"Maybe he can fill in those little holes in our memory." Jargon said. "You know, where we have no memories at all! I would like to get my refund already!"

"Maybe I can do that." a voice said from behind them, and all four of them jumped in fright.

The Issermian Crafter was leaning casually on the outer arena wall behind them. He was wearing his usual paraphernalia, grey hood with golden shoulders, blacked out face, and dragon scale pants. His arms were folded across his chest.

"What…what are you doing here?" Stella stuttered. "How did you get in here? This arena is closed off."

The Crafter laughed. "There is a lot things I can do. Transporting across a dimension is very simple compared to other limits of my power."

"Power?" Sam asked. "What do you mean power?"

"And more importantly." Jargon flew in front of the Crafter's face. "Have you seen my memory? It's about yeah big, genius level intellect, full of heroic deeds and beautiful ladies."

The Crafter laughed. "You haven't changed much, have you, Jargon?"

Shock washed over Sam. Stella and Eries were too shocked to speak. "You know Jargon? And Eries?"

The Crafter walked over to Eries, who only stayed silent. "Are you still as bitter ever, Eries?"

Then Eries went ballistic. "TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW, CREEPO! WHO AM I?! WHERE AM I FROM?! DID YOU TAKE AWAY MY MEMORIES?! TELL ME!"

The Crafter was stunned. Then after a few moments, he laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Well Azraghul will be very disappointed." The Crafter turned to the Bridges. "Tell you what, your Bakugan want answers, and so do I." The Crafter lifted up two Bakugan in between his fingers, one Ventus and the other Pyrus. "Maybe, if you beat me, your Bakugan can get some answers, but you might not like it. Do you really want to know?"

"YES!" Jargon and Eries yelled simultaneously.

The Crafter chuckled. "Very well then." The Crafter disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the arena. He held up a gate card. "You ready?"

Sam and Stella briefly looked at each other and then nodded. The Crafter threw in his gate card. "Gate Card Set!" He reared back his hand and threw in his Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Drakoneia! Ventus Assassos! Rise!"

Twin Pyrus and Ventus lights illuminated the arena. On the battle screen, both Bakugan had five hundred and fifty Gs. From the Pyrus red flare, a long serpent-like rose red dragon crawled out. His long leathery wings were attached his lanky forearms. The tail was tipped with a burning inferno. His stone like head looked back and forth, the split tongue licking the air. The Pyrus Drakoneia reared back his head and bellowed a deafening roar.

Ventus Assassos shot into the air as a green blur. About fifty feet off the ground, he stopped and unfolded his wings. Assassos was armored in shining emerald armor; his face was covered by a bright green helmet that air force pilots' wear. His sword shaped wings were twice as long as his body and attached to a twin rocket jetpack that spewed green flames. Lining the wings was a variety of missiles and rockets, ready to launch any second. But his most noticing feature was the large sniper rifle he cradled in his arms.

Stella gasped when she saw the two Bakugan. "You can't brawl two Bakugan at once! That's impossible!"

"They look familiar…" Eries murmured.

"Well, it looks like he is doing it anyway!" Sam answered her. "Bakugan Brawl! Eries Stand!"

Eries erupted into the arena, twirling her whip. Stella recovered her wits and threw in Jargon. "Bakugan Brawl! Ventus Jargon Stand!"

"Hello, hello, hello!" Jargon mocked. "It's good to greet and beat strangers."

The Crafter pulled out an ability card. "Are you sure they're strangers, Jargon? Ability Activate! Hero Blazer!"

"What do you mean, they're not strangers…" Jargon started to ask, but Drakoneia blasted him back with a stream of flames, knocking Jargon on his butt. Drakoneia switched target to Eries. On the battle screen, both of the Bridges Bakugan lost a hundred while Drakoneia gained two hundred.

Stella struck next. "You don't get to do that to my Jargon! Ability Activate! Bombard Trap!"

Same as before, Jargon rose into the air and pulled a silver detonator from behind his back. "Say Cheese!" he said, pressing the detonator. The wind blasts quelled Drakoneia's fire breath and blasted him into the air. Drakoneia extended his wings and flapped to stay aloft. The explosions reset the power levels

Sam acted next. "Ability Activate! Darkest Fire!"

Eries's eyes glowed with the intensity of a nuclear explosion, gaining two hundred Gs, and lashed out with her burning whip. The whip connected, striking first at Assassos and then Drakoneia, setting off mini explosions of fire. Assassos and Drakoneia fell out of the air and crashed hard into the ground.

"Nice try, Eries, but then again, you always were the violent type." The Crafter said. "But you don't remember that, do you. What you, Jargon, Assassos, and Drakoneia did, where Azraghul found you."

"WOULD YOU KNOCK IT WITH THE FREAKING RIDDLES, YOU PRICK?!" Eries fumed, her anger causing the flames on her whip to burn brighter. "JUST TELL US!"

"Now, where would the fun be in that?" the Crafter answered. "Ability Activate! Sky Arbiter!"

A green laser pointer emerged from Assassos's right eye and shone at both Jargon and Eries, like he was marking them. The laser pointer retracted back into the helmet, and half dozen rockets shot skyward. They twirled around each other in a synchronized pattern and disappeared into the air. Everyone waited for few seconds, but nothing happened.

"Um, I think Team Rocket just signed off again." Jargon muttered.

"What was that?" Sam asked Stella.

Stella shrugged. "I don't know. I have never seen an ability that does nothing before. There has to be something more here." Stella pulled out an ability card. "Ability Activate! Stone Gazer!"

Jargon's face twisted in circles again. "Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy, dizzy." He muttered as his face blurred. Jargon grabbed his head, stopping it. His face had changed once more, except this time Jargon face was normal, with regular eyes, nose, mouth and green needle-like goatee. Jargon's expression was like a cliff, hard and unforgiving.

"This is my serious face." He muttered. On screen, he had gained two hundred Gs, matching with Eries. "You ready to pwn booty, Eries?"

Eries cracked her whip. "Let's" and the two Bakugan charged.

Jargon launched himself at Drakoneia, wrapping around his long neck and beating in his head with his fists, thunderous echoes rang with each strike. Drakoneia roared and bucked, trying to shake his rider. Eries extended her wings and soared after Assassos. Assassos flipped around his sniper rifle and defended himself using the butt. Eries was too fast for him and struck over and over with her whip.

"You were this annoying when we first met, Eries." Assassos said, his voice monotone and mechanical.

Eries stopped her attack. "Where did we meet…" Eries paused, a memory flooding over of a dark and depressing land, with no hope and Bakugan doomed to rot and die. "The Doom Dimension. We are from the Doom Dimension."

"Very good, Eries." The Crafter complimented. "You remember something, but the Doom Dimension is all half to the story. Gate Card Open! Reverse Pendulum!"

The arena floor morphed into the inner workings of a clock, the hands spinning too fast to be normal time. Then the hands stopped, and reversed direction. On the battle screen, Jargon and Eries swapped Gs with Drakoneia and Assassos, leaving them weaker.

The Crafter pointed at the two Bakugan. "Strike Sky Arbiter."

At the sound of the command, six missiles rained down out of nowhere, obliterating anything in their path in a blaze of emerald napalm. The missiles that had disappeared earlier, they hadn't disappeared, they were waiting.

"What?" Stella sounded shocked. "He can call that in at any time, what kind of ability is that?!"

Out of the bright green inferno, two Bakugan flew out and clanked along the ground on the Bridges side of the Arena. Eries and Jargon shook off the defeat and flew up to their brawlers. Sixty percent dropped off their life meters.

"Hey, you alright?" Sam asked.

Eries nodded with her whole body. "Yeah, but, the Doom Dimension…."

"You were in the Doom Dimension." Stella concluded. Sam had heard stories of the Doom Dimension, The Bakugan miserable and dark afterlife, where Bakugan were once banished to die by the mysterious Masquerade. Just think about it made Sam's blood turn to ice.

"Were you in the Doom Dimension as well, Jargon?" Stella asked.

"Yeah, the four of us were, me, Eries, Assassos, and Drakoneia, but I can't remember why." Jargon replied. "Why can't I remember that? I am too cuddly to be dead!"

The Crafter raised his hand. "Are you remembering something there, Eries? Jargon? Do remember why you are here, why you choose to pair with a human?"

"Does anyone know what he is talking about?" Jargon asked, his voice squeaking.

"No, but let's go ask." Eries seethed. "The hard way."

Sam smiled. The hard way was Sam's favorite way to go. Stella put her hand on Sam's shoulder. "Wait, Sam, I have a plan." She quickly explained her plan to him. Sam grinned. He liked this plan.

Stella started. "Gate Card Set! Bakugan Brawl! Jargon Stand!"

Sam went next. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Eries Stand!"

"Bakugan Brawl! Rise Assassos and Drakoneia!"

The four Bakugan rose into the arena. The tension between them felt like at the wrong move, they would explode. Sam pulled out an ability card to break the ice. "Ability Activate! Torrent of Flames!"

Draining two hundred Gs each from Drakoneia and Assassos, a fiery aura surrounded Eries. Smiling cruelly, Eries twirled her whip in a circle above her head over and over again. The flames spun around the whip like a fiery red tornado. Eries stood in the eye of the cyclone, the flames twice her giant height. With a final flick of her whip, she let the tornado loose on its rampage towards Drakoneia and Assassos.

Drakoneia braced himself against the cyclone and Assassos tried to escape above it, but the tornado grinded into them, sweeping them into the whirlwind.

The Crafter lifted up two ability cards. "Interesting, but you still haven't figured it out yet. Abilities Activate! Drakoneia! Gamera Recovery! Assassos! Silent Contract!"

Drakoneia unhinged his jaw and swallowed the tornado whole, taking all the Gs that Eries stole. Assassos recovered midair and raised his rifle. The rifle barrel began to spin and speed up. Another green laser pointer at the tip of the barrel focused in on Eries.

"Bang." Assassos said coldly, without remorse and fired. The high power sea green laser beam blasted into Eries chest. Assassos turned to Jargon and pulled the trigger. Both Bakugan stumbled backwards, smoke bellowing from burn marks on their chests.

Drakoneia charged, flames bellowing from his mouth. Drakoneia reared his head into the air, fire pooling in his throat.

"Um, Stella, Sam, now would be a really good time for that plan!" Jargon quivered.

Sam pulled out the preplanned card. "Ability Activate! Powered Horizon!"

Eries stepped in front of Drakoneia, her body shimmering with power, and absorbed Drakoneia's blast. Her G level rose by four hundred, draining it from Drakoneia. Stella pulled her card. "Ability Card Activate! Crowd Dazzler!"

"Now, you see me, now you see more of me!" Jargon spread his arms and split apart. Six separate copies split from Jargon's body like reproducing cells. The seven Jargons danced around Drakoneia and Assassos, toying with them. Each new Jargon added a hundred to Jargon's power level.

"An old trick, Jargon." Assassos growled. "We did this before, on Vordormor, you fool."

"Why do I believe you?" the Jargons said simultaneously.

"Maybe because it's true, Jargon." The Crafter replied. "Maybe you did something to get banished to the Doom Dimension but its final call. Ability Activate! Assassos! Deadman's Deal!"

The change only happened on the battle screen. Like the match before, the two teams switched G levels. Sam chuckled. Just like they planned.

"Gate Card Open!" Stella commanded with a wave of her hand. "Darkus Revolution!"

The gate card opened in an array of purple light and both Eries and Jargon changed attributes to Darkus. What was once green and red was now night black and yellow and light green morphed to purple. Eries and Jargon laughed together. "It feels good to join the Dark Side."

Stella pulled out her next ability card. "Haven't gotten the chance to use this yet. Ability Activate! Darkus Plague!"

A dark purple fog seeped out the arena floor and snaked its way towards Assassos and Drakoneia. The fog crept up along Drakoneia's leg, leaving a strange black web like pattern. The fog went for Assassos next, who couldn't escape it. "What is this?" he sneered.

"Darkus Plague can only be used by Darkus Bakugan, and the strongest Bakugan are the only ones infected by it." Stella explained.

"What do you mean infect…" Assassos stopped short, as his jet engines gave out. Drakoneia coughed, black smoke bellowing from his legs. Assassos and Drakoneia both collapsed to the ground, the web spreading and moving along their bodies like ants moving along their tunnels. They couldn't move, the disease painfully choking the life out of them. After they stopped twitching, they returned to the ball forms and flew back to the Crafter. His life meter was only reduced by twenty percent.

"Very good." The Crafter said, pulling out two new Bakugan. "You learned how to win, by any means necessary. You can learn a lot from convicts, right Eries? Jargon?"

Sam was stunned. Convicts? Fear flooded Sam's chest, like his lungs were filling with water. "Are you a criminal?"

Eries or Jargon were too stunned by an overload of memories to talk. Images of entire worlds on fire, overturned, people and species screaming and running for their lives. And the worst part of it all, Eries was at the center of it. She, Jargon, Assassos and Drakoneia had burned and destroyed world after world, all for profit, for the power. Her memory returned to her like a lightning bolt. She remembered Genesis Dragoniod catching up with them, banishing them to Doom Dimension. She didn't like what she was remembering. It didn't feel like her, but she remembered being a part of it clearly. Jargon was going through the same thing and it terrified him.

"The World Scorchers." Jargon said, his voice was small. "We were called the World Scorchers. We were mercenaries."

"You were!" The Crafter called out. "But you are still missing something. Why you joined with a human, and it wasn't for the freedom." He threw down his Gate Card. "You may need this part, Sam, Stella, Eries, Jargon. You will need this. Gate Card Set! Pyrus Anties Clyator, Ventus Anties Akummuri, Rise!"

The next two Bakugan were nothing like their attributes. If Clyator was supposed to be a Pyrus Bakugan, the only thing he should for it was the red glow in his eyes. He was gigantic, even by Bakugan standard. Oil black smoke oozed out of his dark gray skin. He wore a strange iron mask over his nose and mouth and was armored with black space age armor. In his right hand Clyator held a long iron staff tipped with a giant stun baton that buzzed red flaming pulses. His power level stood at six hundred and fifty.

Everything about Ventus Akummuri said grounded. Standing at six hundred Gs, he resembled an ancient samurai warrior, wearing green emerald Japanese armor; two small katanas were strapped to the small of his back. His face with covered by a Japanese mask that reminded Sam of a gorgon mask, wide evil frown, tusks coming out the corners, and glaring eyes. The helmet horns looked like an upside down Asian temple. Strapped to his back was a larger broadsword.

"These are Anties Clyator and Akummuri! Like all Anties, they were born to oppose a specific attribute. Clyator and Akummuri are anti Pyrus and Ventus." The Crafter explained.

Sam looked at Stella, who looked like she was about to threw up. Stella looked down at Jargon. "Jargon? Are you a really a mercenary? A convict?"

"I don't feel so good." Jargon replied. "I don't like being a destroyer of worlds. I supposed to be a hero! Not a criminal!"

"Are you?" The Crafter asked. "You are still missing something about all that pain you caused. Let's brawl and find out."

Eries floated up to look Sam in the eye. "Let's find out."

Sam nodded. "Alright." He grabbed Eries in palm. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Eries Stand!"

"Let's finish this, Stella." Jargon pleaded. Stella grabbed Jargon and threw him in. "Ventus Jargon Stand!"

The Crafter moved first. "Can remember when we found you in the Doom Dimension? What we asked you? Ability Activate! Akummuri! Sign of the Cyclone!"

Akummuri drew his short swords and twirled them in his hands like fan blades. Wind blasts as powerful as hurricane winds knocked Eries and Jargon. Akummuri gained two hundred Gs.

Stella raised an Ability card. "Ability Activate! Joker's Wild!"

Akummuri's blades stopped spinning as Jargon stepped back, revealing a large game show wheel divided between the six attributes. Jargon adjusted a silver bowtie that magically appeared out nowhere and spun the wheel. "Spin, spin it goes, where it stops, well that's your problem! Cause if lands on your attribute, you lose."

The wheel slowed, the needle clanking against the attributes. The wheel stopped, the needle stopping on the Pyrus attribute. "Oh bad luck mate. Looks like you lose. Eries?"

Clyator grabbed his chest, like he was having a heart attack. On the battle screen, Clyator was losing ten Gs every other second. He collapsed on one knee, his staff clattering to the ground.

Sam raised an ability card "Ability Activate! Smoking Choker!"

Eries lashed out her whip, wrapping it around Akummuri's body, pinning his arms. The flames began to pulse as Eries sucked the Gs out of him. Eries stepped forward. "Tell me the truth, why did you erase my memories? What aren't you telling me?"

The Crafter laughed. "Regret." He pulled out two ability cards and flicked them on his palm. "The story is missing regret. When my lieutenant and I found you in the Doom Dimension, you and Jargon both were on the verge of drifting off. You asked if you had anything in the world, you could take it back, all the destruction, all the pain. Eries and Jargon more than Assassos and Drakoneia, but when we offered redemption, you accepted. Now it's time to prove your worth." He raised his cards. "Gate Card Open! Numbing Effect! Ability Activate! Clyator! Bellowing Noose! Akummuri! Soul Vortex!"

Both Clyator and Akummuri returned to their original Gs and gained three hundred more each. Clyator raised his staff and pointed the end at Eries. A black smoke belched out of the end, snaking its way to Eries. It wrapped around her, draining her of her power.

Akummuri drew his long sword and aimed at Jargon. "Oh, crap!" A spiral vortex of green energy shot from the tip of the blade and blasted Jargon, freezing him in place the beam sucked out his power, just like Eries.

The two Bakugan collapsed to the floor, struggling to move, to fight back. And the worse part, the final part of their memory was returning, the despair, the regret that was eating her alive. How two Bakugan had found here, the vampire like Bakugan erasing her memory. Also what the second Bakugan told her, why he had chosen her and Jargon.

"You need us." Eries struggled to say. "You need us,_ Towarsole_."

The Crafter laughed and Jargon finished "You gave a better offer, to repay what we had done. Not destroy a world, but save it. To save Issermia."

Towarsole nodded. "But can you save yourselves?"

Eries looked back at Sam. "Are you ready to finish this?"

Sam nodded. "Yep. Ability Activate! Tormented Demon Alignment!"

Tormented Demon Alignment was Sam's most powerful card, and could only be used when Eries power was below hundred Gs. She gained twice as many Gs she had lost. Eries world went black, a reversed red holographic pentagram illuminated behind her, Bakugan lettering circling the symbol. The smoke that was killing her turned to a blazing inferno, wrapping her whole body in flames. Eries disappeared in a wall of flames.

Stella followed suite, pulling out her ability card. "Let's do this, Jargon! Ability Activate! Eye of Aeolus!"

Green lightning struck Jargon head on, Akummuri's attack vaporizing into wind. Lightning crackled around Jargon's body, blanketing him in a blinding emerald light. On the Battle screen, his G level steady rose to twice his original power.

"What's happening?" Stella asked. "Why aren't they attacking?"

The Crafter chuckled. "They're evolving."

As soon as he said, the flames around Eries expanded and exploded. Eries body steamed with power. She now had four larger bat wings, made from pure flames. Her horns now pointed upwards and out long flaming hair. Her eyes glowed like nuclear explosions. Her whip changed too, the several flaming ropes attached to the handle, like a cat of nine tails. "Pyrus. Punisher. Eries!" she seethed.

The name rang out across the arena, and the lightning around Jargon faded into green sparks. Jargon's body was larger, covered head to toe with crystal green Roman armor. The arches of his wings were covered with plates of steel. Jargon's jester cap was gone, replaced with a Roman helmet, the green plume spiked and messed up. In his hands was a large, two handed, emerald sword. "How do you like me now?! Call me Imperial Jargon!"

Ability cards glowed in Sam and Stella's hands, transforming into a more powerful cards. Sam and Stella looked at each other briefly and acted in unison. "Ability Activate! Torturer Judgment! Chaotic Legionnaire!"

Eries leaped through the air, lashing out with her multitailed whip, the slash cutting right through Clyator. Jargon raised his sword and charged. Akummuri braced himself and prepared himself, But Jargon strike with the force of a hurricane, knocking Akummuri down.

The battle was over. Sam caught Eries in hand. Eries opened up. "Good job, Sam. You have improved." She complimented. Sam grinned.

"Thanks." He looked over at the Crafter or Towarsole or whatever he was called. "Now what did you want with us?!'

The Crafter didn't answer, only snapped his fingers and they no longer were in the training arena.

Next Chapter=**_Eye for an Eye, Savior for a Savior_**


End file.
